1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to communication devices and, more particularly, to a novel communication system for universal, point-to-point communication of formatted files over a telephone network.
2. The Background Art
Throughout history, an ability to communicate with another individual or a group has been valuable. Devices and methods of communication include letters, written documents, telegraph, radio, television, telex, telephone and computers. As computers have become available in various areas, means for sending and receiving computer generated documents have developed. The principal communication devices developed are bulletin board services, facsimiles, and electronic mail (E-mail). These serve, respectively, the needs for mass distribution of information, image transmission, and messaging among users of a shared, private, hard-wired network.
Significantly, however, serious disadvantages and limitations exist with each of these types of communication systems. For example, bulletin board services and similar networks require a user to dedicate access and control of a computer or workstation to the communication task. Failure to do so may result in crashing the computer. In addition, service bureaus that provide bulletin boards and network services (including E-Mail capabilities) are operated by third party vendors. The computer may only connect to a service bureau by logging on. Logging on requires executing a complex set of instructions according to a set of protocols unique to the service bureau. While logged on, the storage devices of the computer may be subject to access. Information. is controlled by the computer of the service. Information can only be received and broadcast by the computer of the service. No point to point messaging is available to users accessing the service.
A practical disadvantage of a computer network is security of files. Theft and chaos may result from hackers accessing sensitive files. Since each user is sharing a space in a common storage device of the computer network, one who has access to the computer network can find a way to access files, whether or not authorized. Accordingly, important files in a hard disk or other storage medium in a network can be destroyed, stolen, or permanently damaged, inadvertently or intentionally.
Facsimile (fax) technology is basically transmitting a raster image through a communications line as dots, not files as used by a software application (program) run on a computer by a user. Virtually all information of an original file, produced by an application such as a drawing program or a word processing program, is lost. Only a relatively poor (compared to the resolution of an original image or data), non-recoverable, computer incompatible, machine-unreadable, visual image of the output is transmitted for most documents.
Actual files of data cannot be transmitted. Accordingly, faxed documents cannot be edited for corrections, modifications, or the like on a computer screen. Re-entering the text of faxed documents into a computer or conversion of the faxed text by character recognition software is necessary to cleanly print, use, or modify the content of documents. Even so, character recognition software is not 100% accurate. Formatting commands for achieving the appearance of the transmitted document on paper are not acutally known by a recipient.
As for drawings and spreadsheets, input of the files is all but impossible. Only the visual output is transmitted. The mathematical relationships found only in the underlying datafile responsible for the printed output are lost to a receiver of a facsimile.
Moreover, a computer user using a modem (modulator-demodulator) or fax (facsimile) and associated software on a computer experiences annoying repeated intermittent interruptions. Interruptions are caused by the associated software operating in the background of the computer memory. Interruptions are triggered by competition for resources between the multiple programs (applications) operating in the CPU and stored in memory.
Image transmission is not effective or efficient for images requiring high resolution, such as, for example, medical images, technical drawings or artistic drawings. Resolution is limited, Resolution of text is so limited that scanners cannot reliably read the text. Extensive proofreading and editing are required. Even so, these poor images require massive data for minimal information, often approaching one megabyte of data per page of a visual image. The massive data files transmitted result in slow transmission of documents.
Other practical disadvantages arise from running several software programs at the same time, sharing the same central processing unit (CPU). Conflicts of software accessing the same computer resources may halt the entire operation of the computer.